Tramway for vehicles.



PATElfITBD JUNE,16,'1903.

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' I 1 k u 1 UNITED STATES Paten'ted June 16, 1903.

WILLIAM J. NEWMAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TRAMWA'Y FOR VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming m of Letters Patent No. 731,119, dated June 16, 1903.

Application filed January 8, 1903. a Serial No. 138,236. (No model.) i

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I,WILL1AM J. NEWMAN, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Im provements in Tramways for Vehicles; and g I do hereby declare that the following is a fnll,-clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in roads or tramways for vehicles constructed to guide the wheels of the vehicle and to adord a. solid continuous traction-surface therefor.

A road or tramway embodying my improvements is applicable for use in connection with horse or motor propelled vehicles, and is especially useful for transporting loaded vehicles over soft and yielding groundsuch, for instance, as the newly-deposited earth of a dumping-ground.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a tramway made in accordance with my invention. Fig.2 is a transverse section thereof.

As shown in the drawings, A A designate cross-ties or sleepers which support the rails of the tramway.

B B designate parallel stringers laid on the crossties and separated a distance corresponding with the tread of the vehicles which travel over said road or tramway. Said stringers B are made of hard wood, such as oak. I

O C designate flanged beams which are laid the margins of the stringers with the flanges also prevents said flanges from bending inwardly under stress.

cured to the ties by means of spikes d, as

shown in Fig.2. Said boards when laid are forced tightly against the opposite sides of the I-beam rails and are'made of practically the same thickness as the depth of the flanges, so as to engage the outer faces of said flanges throughout their height. Said planks or boards D serve in connection with the stringersB, which closely fill the spaces between the lower flanges of the rails, to prevent lateral distortion of the flanges in a manner to bend the upperflanges inwardly toward the center of the I-beam rails, such as would occur if the flanges were not laterally supported. In this manner I am enabled to use for the same load a lighter beam than would be practicable if unsupported. For light loads I may employ in lieu ofthe I-beams shown channels-bars of a weight to give the desired strength to the roadway. The I-beams are preferable, however, by reason of the fact that lateral flexu re or distortion of the flanges is readily prevented.

The plank or boards D may be made ofsufficient width to serve as'a pathway for the animals drawing the wagon, and in this event the center of the tramway need not be filled. Moreover, said boards serve to bind the supporting ties or sleepers together, so as to prevent displacement or twisting of the latter notwithstanding the fact that the tramway may be laid upon soft .or yielding ground.

The maintenance of the parallelism of the rails may in this manner be assured.

At the entrance to the road suit-able outwardly-curved guides will be located to direct the wheels of the vehicle to the grooved or channeled rails, so that the driver of the vehicle need not exercise care to properly guide the vehicle on the track. Moreover, at curves it may be desirable that the trackrails be made considerably wider than those in the straight parts of the track thereof to preventbinding of the vehicle-wheels against the upper flanges while passing around curves. Certain of the structural details may be varied without departing from the spirit of my invention, and claims not limited to the complete details are intended to cover the features therein set forth without regard to the combination in which they are herein illustrated.

I claim as my invention- 1. A road or tramway for vehicles, comprising cross-ties or sleepers, parallel flanged metal beams laid thereo ver,the webs of which constitute the traction-surfaces for vehiclewheels and the flanged guides therefor, and longitudi[tally-arranged boards attached to said cross-ties on each side of and pressed closely against said beams.

2. A road or tramway for vehicles comprisingcross-tiesorsleepersparallelstringers laid on said ties, flanged metal beams laid over said stringers, the Webs of which constitute traction-surfaces for vehicle-wheels and the flanged guides therefor, and longitudinally-arranged boards attached to said cross-ties on each side of and pressed closelyagainst said beams.

stringers laid on said ties, I-beams laid over said stringers, the webs of which constitute traction-surfaces for vehicle-wheels and the flanged guides therefor, longitudinally arranged boards attached to said cross-ties on each side of and pressed closely against said beams.

4. A road or tramway for vehicles comprising cross-ties or sleepers,parallel stringers laid on said ties, I- beams laid over said stringers, said stringers filling the spaces between the flanges of said I-beains, and boards attached to said cross-ties on each side of and pressed closely against said beams.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I aifix' my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 5th day of January, A. D. 1903.

WILLIAM J. NEWMAN.

Vit-nesses:

WILLIAM L. HALL, GERTRUDE BRYCE. 

